burnt memories | markhyuck

three

doyoung pressed on the 3rd floor as soon as they went inside the elevator. haechan had no idea who they were going to visit. it might be the head of this institution that might be scary as hell that would make haechan changed his mind. at least that was what haechan thought of at the moment as he couldn't come up with something else but he wondered too, why in hell would the head's office place be on the 3rd floor.

as they arrived, doyoung led the tanned male by turning to his left. haechan walked closely behind him like a lost puppy as his pupils moved up, down, left and right to observe his surroundings. it was similar to the previous floor except that it has more rooms and the doors were closed too.

however, the doorknob on this floor had color on it. different colors to be exact. some were green and some were yellow. haechan thought there were only two colors but when they stopped in front of a door that had color red as its knob, haechan noted that there were actually three.

strangely, it was the only door that had the knob with red color on that floor. haechan gulped the lump in this throat as he felt it getting dry. it's not something bad right? haechan thought.

something clicked in haechan's brain. this floor might belong to the patients as he looked up on top of the door frame, there was a sign hanging and it read as, Mark's Room. he concluded that if it was a room for the doctor, it must be written like what doyoung's room had.

"why are we here?" out of curiosity that built up, haechan decided to ask.

fumbling with the key, doyoung unlocked the door before he passed the latter a smile. "you'll see."

haechan tried to calm himself as he was ushered inside the room. he jumped a little when doyoung closed the door behind him, startled at the sound. he couldn't really see what was inside the room as it was dimmed. only the light that seemed to be placed on a table was illuminating the small room.

however, as soon as doyoung flicked the switch of the ceiling lamp, haechan could clearly see what was in front of him—a male that was around his age being wrapped in a straitjacket, laying on a bed. he didn't really pay attention to what else was there as his eyes were fixed on the sleeping human.

"so this is the 'certain person' you talked about?" haechan hid behind doyoung as they went near the unconscious male's bed.

haechan's instinct told him to be prepared for anything to happen. he had the reason to do so because he was in a fucking mental patient's room with the door closed. even though the person had his hands hidden under the jacket, haechan was afraid that he would wake up and goes mad, ripping the item open and attack them.

"yes," doyoung's voice snapped the latter back from his trance. "his name is mark lee. a patient diagnoses with schizophrenia and has been here for almost three years."

haechan let the information sunk in as he recalled the term schizophrenia from his study before. it is a serious mental illness in which affects the person's mind to fathom what's a reality.

"three years? that's.. too long," haechan muttered as he scanned mark's face.

"it is. and the reason behind it is a thing to be discussed later," doyoung paused as he thought for a while and cleared his throat. "or we can talk about it now."

haechan raised his brows. "uh okay?"

"mark was put in here in late december 2016 when he was 18 years old. we got a call from one of the hospitals in seoul. he involved in a car accident and the moment he woke up, he kept on calling for one name that he admitted was his boyfriend that got into the accident with him. but the doctor there told us that he was alone when the unfortunate incident happened. the officers who were in charge of the case also recorded the same thing. they believed the impact of the accident was the start of this because we checked thoroughly with other mental asylums that he didn't have any record on a mental problem," doyoung explained.

"so he was hallucinating?" haechan asked.

doyoung nodded. "yes. the first year is the worst. he keeps seeing his boyfriend's face and sometimes he thinks that his boyfriend is really here."

"what do you mean?"

"he would say the staff was his boyfriend and if they denied, mark would attack them saying that they were lying to him," doyoung sighed, remembering the pitiful scream of the staff.

"h-how did he attack them?" haechan questioned as he could feel perspiration started to form on his forehead, nervousness doubled up.

"mark is clever. he had his own improvised weapon. a toothbrush, he sharpened the handle and stabbed them with it. we confiscated the item and never let him touch it again. but that doesn't stop him. he would fight—punch, kick, bite until he's satisfied. like last night, he scratched the nurse's face until he bleeds."

haechan shivered to hear the latter's story. he glanced at mark's face, thinking that how could he look so innocent when the truth that he had hurt people. great, haechan's trust issue would never get better.

"i know it's a terrifying story but that's the reality," doyoung continued as if he could read the tanned male's mind. "mark is the most aggressive patient here and did you see the color on his room's knob?"

haechan nodded silently as he recalled the color.

"green is for patients that show no aggressiveness and have steady progress in recovering. the ones with yellow are for patients that's showing progress but very slowly and have a minimum danger to the workers," doyoung explained briefly then sighed, "while red.. red is for mark," doyoung was sure haechan caught what he meant.

haechan did. he let out a nervous laugh as his palms were getting sweaty. "now do you mind telling me why we are here?" haechan was impatient to leave as he saw a little movement on mark's brows, his mouth was mumbling incoherent words.

"so this position you're applying for is for you to talk to mark and become his personal therapist. the doctors here have tried literally everything to break down his wall but none of us succeed until now. we thought that maybe mark needs someone who's around his age which he can talk with comfortably. i see you're the perfect one for this haechan and since you're the same age as him makes it even better," doyoung said, tucking his hands inside his coat's pockets.

haechan processed the words bit by bit and he saw nothing was wrong with it but flashback to what doyoung had told him about mark's experience with the staff rushed back to his mind. what if mark tried to hurt him too? what if mark showed no progress even if haechan was the same age as him? what if mark becoming more aggressive when he saw someone new trying to console him? there were too many what-ifs and it discouraged the tanned male.

it was dangerous but haechan wanted a job. he wanted to become independent. he wanted to achieve his goal. he wanted to prove to his parents that he's capable of doing things without their help.

doyoung saw the tanned male was in deep thought and how hard he bit his lip and the crease between his brows deepened. "it's okay if you want to decline the offer haechan. it's risky and i understand you'll—"

"i'll do it," haechan spoke.

"pardon?" doyoung held back the smile that threatened to bloom on his face as he heard the latter.

"i want to do it. i accept the job dr. kim."

💉💉💉

|to be continued|